Photo tour of the Cenovus Energy Christina Lake drilling site

[Azure]

Pretty cool.

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-tou...acility-2012-5

[freedogger]

Peak oil up close!

[bc-chris]

that was pretty sweet... lots of my buddies have gone to work out at the camps in northern alberta

i've got to ask a question... and i hope it isn't a stupid one.... in the one pic they talk about the pipe going parallel to the ground. i'm curious as to how they get a steel pipe to bend in the ground so that it runs parallel, not perpendicular to the surface. do they just drill at an angle??

[SebC]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i've got to ask a question... and i hope it isn't a stupid one.... in the one pic they talk about the pipe going parallel to the ground. i'm curious as to how they get a steel pipe to bend in the ground so that it runs parallel, not perpendicular to the surface. do they just drill at an angle??

Not my area of expertise but:

At the surface drilling straight down is prefered, but they will go in at an angle if the depth isn't sufficient to make a full 90 degree bend. The drillbit is able to change its direction slowly, so it does bend in the ground, although there is a minimum radius to the curve... it's nowhere near a right angle.

[oilyfan]

In directional drilling the minimum radius achievable is around a 100 times the diameter of the pipe used to drill. So for a 4" pipe you make a turn with a radius of 400" or around 35 feet.

[Boblobla]

I work on that project. I am hoping to get up to site soon.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I work on that project. I am hoping to get up to site soon.

I'm working on the project across the lake. You guys seem to have a pretty nice camp. Site experience is awesome, I much prefer the actual work to the home office snoozefest.

[8sPOT]

It can be profitable too. The site I'm at pulls over 90,000 BPD using steam assisted gravity drainage. And thats not even full capacity yet.

[FLAMESRULE]

That control room + games room are insane, all thats missing are some hammocks. We're doing our FEED work on Ph 1 of a 60000bopd SAGD project. Not sure I want to send pics of that around to my field guys...they'll be damn jealous.

Agreed that site experience is awesome. You learn so much more there and if you come back to the glass towers of Calgary you may actually get some respect from the field guys. Puts a totally different perspective on the projects (thermal, ASP, CSS, etc.).

[Reaper]

But but but... Tar Sands! Derp derpity derp!

In all honesty, I am in favour of in situ operations because they are less ugly than the open pit mining style used around Ft. McMurray. Fewer yakking treetards who rely soley on actors for their environmental talking points equals lower levels of smear campaigns when it comes to Canadian oil.

[Northendzone]

I have emailed a link to this thread to several celebrities - they will tell me what to think of this operation.......because when you are a celebrity you become knowledgable on many many topics.

[Locke]

That was a cool read.

[Flames89]

Originally Posted by SebC

Not my area of expertise but:

At the surface drilling straight down is prefered, but they will go in at an angle if the depth isn't sufficient to make a full 90 degree bend. The drillbit is able to change its direction slowly, so it does bend in the ground, although there is a minimum radius to the curve... it's nowhere near a right angle.

You can get a right angle, it just takes a long time to go from vertical to horizontal.
Some drillers will just install a piece that has a bump on one side of the pipe right behind the drill. So it changes the pressure applied and the thing veers off, then once the angle is achieved, they take it off and drill as normal.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Flames89

You can get a right angle, it just takes a long time to go from vertical to horizontal.
Some drillers will just install a piece that has a bump on one side of the pipe right behind the drill. So it changes the pressure applied and the thing veers off, then once the angle is achieved, they take it off and drill as normal.

I think what he meant was that it wasn't a 90 degree angle like this L not that you can't get to 90 from vertical, which of course is the entire point of hz drilling.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

I think what he meant was that it wasn't a 90 degree angle like this L not that you can't get to 90 from vertical, which of course is the entire point of hz drilling.

Shouldn't you be chasing worthless gas somewhere right now?

[Nufy]

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Shouldn't you be chasing worthless gas somewhere right now?

No sense chasing, it ain't goin' no where.
It'll still be there Tuesday morning.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i've got to ask a question... and i hope it isn't a stupid one.... in the one pic they talk about the pipe going parallel to the ground. i'm curious as to how they get a steel pipe to bend in the ground so that it runs parallel, not perpendicular to the surface. do they just drill at an angle??

If you think that's mind blowing, try to imagine how they get an inline pump in that same pipe a year later.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Nufy

My favourite thing about this picture is how there actually are drilling rigs like this now for pipeline installations. Simpson's inspiration?

[Azure]

Amazing to me how many people on here are somehow involved in the O&G industry.

We should do a poll. Be pretty interesting to see the results.